1. Field of the Invention
Insect control in marketing has as its major objective the reduction of losses caused by insects to harvested agricultural commodities and their processed or manufactured products throughout the entire marketing channels and until they are utilized by the final consumer. Products intended for human consumption, such as dry milk, flour, nuts, spices, dried fruits, and processed cereals, are commodities that must be entirely free of living or dead insects or evidence of their presence. Loss of food and food products in storage and in transit due to pests is significant. More effective control of storage pests, particularly in large granaries, small farm storages, ships, and warehouses, could mean an immediate increase in the world's edible grain and food without any change in agricultural productivity.
Several new techniques for controlling stored-product insects have been devised in recent years. These new methods include modified atmospheres, radiation, pathogens, growth regulators, and pheromones, all of which can be combined with the older methods of control, such as sanitation, inspection, good packaging, storage facilities, and pesticides, to achieve an integrated approach to the control of stored-product insects.
Pheromones and other attractants are especially promising against low populations of stored-product insects that, nevertheless, exceed the populations tolerated in food products. In such situations, habitats are usually restricted, and the insects typically populate small foci that expand only gradually. Simple, inexpensive traps baited with insect pheromones or attractants would be useful for monitoring such insects in order to estimate population levels, identify problem species, and initiate efficient control measures. This invention relates to a trap useful for such purposes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Interest in the use of traps to detect and monitor stored-product Coleoptera and in stored-product pest management programs has steadily increased, particularly during the last decade. The use of corrugated traps with wheat flour bait to trap Tribolium confusum Jacquelin duVal was reported by DeCoursey [J. Econ. Entomol. 24: 1079-1081 (1931)]. Wilson [J. Econ. Entomol. 33: 651-653 (1940)] utilized sticky traps treated with alcoholic fish meal extracts for trapping carpet beetle (Dermestidae) larvae in houses. Sticky traps have met with only limited success in that they do not rapidly kill the insects and the level of adhesive required to prevent escapes tends to have a repellent effect. Burkholder [In: Insect Pheromones and Their Applications, T. Kono and S. Ishii, eds., 1976, pp. 111-122] and Barak et al. [Environ. Entomol. 5: 111-114 (1976)] developed a four-layer, 9-cm. square corrugated trap which was baited with the pheromones of Attagenus unicolor (Brahm) [=megatoma (F.)] and Trogoderma inclusum LeConte. Insects lured to the trap were killed by malathion insecticide applied to the trap. This device demonstrated seasonal emergence and distribution of these insects in a grain elevator, milling company, and warehouse. Levinson et al. [Z. ang. Ent. 84: 337-343 (1977)] described a four-layer contact trap made of burlap for trapping Trogoderma granarium Everts.